Jinju Holds Interim Report Meeting on Establishing Basic Plan for Aerospace Industry Development

Following the Kickoff Meeting Last December, Doing Our Best to Develop a Unique Growth Strategy for Jinju Bay

Jinju City, Gyeongnam announced on the 30th that it held the ‘Mid-term Report Meeting for the Establishment of the Basic Plan for Aerospace and Future Air Mobility Industry Promotion in Jinju’ at the cultural lecture room on the 3rd floor of City Hall.

The mid-term report meeting was attended by Jinju Mayor Cho Kyu-il, advisory committee members, officials from Gyeongnam Technopark, representatives from the consulting firm, and relevant city officials. The meeting proceeded in the order of a progress report on the project, a Q&A session with the advisory committee, and closing remarks.

The basic plan establishment project aims to discover projects and develop feasibility logic that align with national and regional plans in the fields of space, aviation, and future air mobility industries, while also fitting Jinju’s industrial, environmental, and geographical characteristics. It also seeks to establish phased project and policy implementation strategies.

Jinju City is holding an interim report meeting for the establishment of the basic plan to foster the aerospace industry.

Mayor Cho Kyu-il stated, “Since the project kick-off report in December last year, we have been striving to incorporate diverse opinions from experts, advisory committee members, and the industry into the project,” and added, “Jinju City will make efforts to derive a unique development direction for Jinju through this project.”

Meanwhile, the city recognizes the aerospace and future air mobility sectors as key industries that will drive the next 100 years and is making various efforts to foster these fields intensively, create quality jobs, and revitalize the local economy.

To promote the future air mobility industry, Jinju has formed the ‘UAM Jinju’ council, signed an ‘MOU for UAM Industry Promotion,’ an ‘MOU for the AAV (Advanced Air Vehicle) Demonstration Center Construction Project,’ and an ‘MOU for the Creation of a Korean-style Future Air Mobility Industry Ecosystem,’ collaborating with various organizations.

In addition, in the Gasansandan area of Ibanseong-myeon, the city is pursuing the construction of an ‘AAV Demonstration Center’ where research, demonstration tests, and flight tests for AAVs can be comprehensively verified. The ‘AAV Demonstration Center’ will be built on a site of 11,000 square meters with a total project cost of 29.4 billion KRW and is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2025.

The city plans to attract AAV manufacturing companies and concentrate companies and institutions in one place by linking the ‘AAV Demonstration Center’ and the ‘KAI Rotary Wing Flight Center’ being established in Gasansandan. This will enable the entire process from material and parts certification support, airframe production, demonstration testing, flight testing, to airframe certification to take place in one location, establishing the ‘nation’s first AAV production base.’

For the development of the space sector, in December 2022, Gyeongnam Province, including Jinju City, was designated as a government space industry cluster satellite specialized zone. This year, the preliminary feasibility study requirement was waived for the construction of the main facility of the satellite specialized zone, the ‘Space Environment Test Facility.’

The ‘Space Environment Test Facility’ construction project involves expanding the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) Space Parts Testing Center located in Sangdae-dong, Jinju, and relocating it to the Gasan Complex of the Gyeongnam Aviation Bureau in Jeongchon-myeon, with a total project cost of 217.8 billion KRW.

Additionally, as the first among local governments nationwide, Jinju began a small satellite development project in 2019, and since 2023, in collaboration with Gyeongnam Province, KTL, and Gyeongsang National University, has started developing the 6U-class ‘JINJUSat-2.’